Chapter 54 | The Raging Storm I
"Three rooms?" asked Taiga, arching an eyebrow. Behind him, the man at the desk waited patiently for a decision to be made, a smile on his face as he looked from one shinobi to the next.
"Two," said Saori, looking back at the older shinobi.
They were standing in the entrance hall of an inn situated in the countryside, about a few hours away from Senju territory, discussing rooming arrangements. Rather Taiga and Saori were making all necessary decisions while ignoring the fact that Madara and Mio were nearby listening. Taiga was still fishing and he wanted to make use of Saori to see the fruits of his efforts.
"Mio and I, You and Madara," Saori continued, gesturing at the pairs as she spoke them. She did not see the purpose of renting three rooms, not even with all the hinting Taiga had done to spell it out for her.
Madara cut between Taiga and Saori, reaching the desk. "Three rooms," he said, taking the money from Taiga, who was grinning at Mio, to pay the man who gave him three keys in return. Madara only shot Mio a look before handing a key to Taiga and another to Saori. He kept the third for himself and walked off to find his accommodations.
"You should probably follow him," Taiga said, still smiling. "You might lose your way."
Saori's face brightened. "Oh? My room is a double." She reached over for Mio and took her by the hand, leading her away. "Let's go see our room."
Mio grinned at Taiga as she passed and saw him grimace before stalking off in the opposite direction where Madara had gone to find his own room. Saori guided her up a staircase and into the first room to their left. There was ample space for the two of them and two sets of bedding stacked in the closet. Saori made sure to see to that everything was suitable for their overnight stay.
"We should take advantage of the hot springs," Saori suggested, staring out the window from which she could see the stone surrounding the steaming water.
From where she stood, Mio could see the fog clouding over the tiled roof and admitted to herself that a dip in a hot spring would be quite soothing to her aching muscles. She appreciated that the symptoms to her black water imbalance had blown over, but the persistent fevers left her exhausted.
"Was this a prudent choice?" Saori asked, sinking into a seat on the windowsill. She gestured around her to elaborate on her meaning. "Choosing this inn apart from others. There are smaller, cheaper rooms out there. We can afford that and it would be a little less obvious. Besides this inn is in such a nice state, I wouldn't want to see any hunter clans destroying it."
"This inn is within the daimyo's jurisdiction," Mio answered, having taken some time to get acquainted with the politics with Taiga's help during the trip over. "And this particular area is under the protection of the Sarutobi clan. The Fire Country's hunter clans don't want to risk upsetting the Sarutobi clan after past encounters gone wrong and the Sarutobi clan is not interested in the riches the Emperor is offering, so they are not actively patrolling their territory searching for traitors. This inn is as neutral as things are going to get for us, so long as we continue acting like a group of medicine sellers, we won't encounter trouble here." She eased the tension gathered in her shoulders. "We won't be staying long enough to attract any attention."
Saori beamed, reaching for a bucket filled with bathing sundries provided by the inn. "Bath then hot spring?"
Mio took the bucket from her, approving of her suggestion. She grabbed their towels on the way out. Saori was carrying their robes when she caught up to her as she descended the staircase.
Excitedly, the older girl leaned forward to say, "I always wanted to sit in a hot spring."
"You never have?" asked Mio.
"Never. Hibari and I always wanted to, but when you're an Ito, you're not allowed to leave the village until you finish your training," she explained, straying from their conversation for an instant to ask one of the servants about where to find the bath. Once they were directed, she continued, "Is it the same for the Kuronuma clan?"
"I think there was dubious consent wherever leaving Mt. Hyōga was concerned," Mio admitted. "We had an agreement with the lord of Kurata concerning the three villages under his jurisdiction, so no actual permission was necessary in going to one of them, but if it meant leaving Kurata, one needed to ask my great-grandfather. Unless you were my grandfather, in that case you did as you pleased."
Saori's smile faded a little, her face saddening. "Shinya-san was an incredible man," she said. "My father hated him, but he had a lot of respect for him. I spoke to him often when Madara was recovering. He told us stories, Hibari and I."
"Nothing embarrassing I hope."
The older girl shook her head, laughing a little. "He talked to us about my father and my mother. Everything we did not know about them, he told us."
They paused a moment after entering the bath and removed their clothing before entering the adjacent room with only a towel to cover themselves. They each took seats on a pair of wooden stools and started to wash themselves while continuing their conversation from before seeing as they had the room for themselves.
"He told me that my father did not want Hibari and I to pick up our craft," Saori said. "He feared we would meet the same fate as our brothers, but that my mother spoke to him. She said that it would be our choice and that if he feared for us, it was unfounded because women were powerful." She smiled softly as she lathered her hair with a sweet scented soap. "My mother was a sweet lady. Your grandfather claims she was a princess my father spirited away, but I don't know whether to believe him or not. It sounds outrageous, doesn't it?"
"My grandfather was alive for so long," Mio answered. "He wandered the world for many years. There is no telling how much he knew about everyone. Your mother might have been a princess."
"You're right. There's no telling, she was very well mannered," she said. "My mother was a kind woman. Sweet. But I don't remember much apart from that. I feel she died before I could remember more. What about your mother?"
Mio slouched a bit, stumped for words. She did not talk about her mother or father, not for quite some time. It was like the subject had gradually become taboo because the last memory of them haunted her so persistently.
She did not speak immediately because she was not sure were to begin.
Saori waited patiently for her answer.
"My mother was strict," Mio began, calling back her memories and speaking slowly. "Brusque. She liked things done to perfection. She was never unkind with me, but I…with her…" She paused, awakening emotions she had long set aside because she had learned the truth on that violent night. It had been a painful reality, one she hated to have seen then. "There were times I was convinced she did not like me. I felt like I had always done something wrong. She was so distant at times, difficult to speak to. I was never not intimidated in approaching her." She stole a glance at Saori, who was looking back at her, concern furrowing her brow. "But she loved me, fiercely, as all mothers should love their children." Mio wrung the towel between her hands, the emotion taking hold of her. "I abhor that it took her sacrificing her life for mine for me to truly see how much she cared for me."
And for a time, they let the silence linger between them because the memories in their heads were of the bitter sort, though few of them were sweet.
The hot springs gave them ample opportunity to relax and they stayed inside the therapeutic water for a time. They returned to their room upstairs to eat the meal set out for them.
"Did we order food?" Saori asked, though she was delighted there was food.
"No."
Mio stared down at the servings, noticing something that made her smile.
"What?" asked Saori, staring at her.
"There is no fish," she replied, though it was not much of an answer. She knew Madara was the one that made the order because he was probably the only one to see that she had long grown tired of eating fish after their lengthy trips. Hell, she had been tired of catching them.
"Do you hate fish?"
"No, but I do grow bored of eating it."
They sat and ate, appreciating every bite of their delicious meal. A few members of the staff appeared later to take their empty plates and left them in the quiet.
Saori made a few strange jokes until one made her laugh. There was another short silence before Mio spoke again.
"You were with Izuna," she began, having held onto asking after him for some time, "Was he okay?"
"We found him wounded near the village, the lookouts mentioned he looked to be wandering about as if searching for something—does this world have this kind of effect on a person? Do you think he knew there was something hidden despite not having his memories?"
"I cannot say for certain," Mio answered. "It might be. Nishiki was not in complete control of the sphere when he created this world, so there were probably limits to what he could accomplish. I think this place is only a slightly modified version of ours because he did not have the strength needed to do as he intended. We were lucky this was as he went."
Understanding, Saori nodded and continued, "Izuna was nursed back to health, I made sure of it. Though, it was strange he did not know who I was," she said, amused. "I think he might have even insulted me."
Mio cracked a smile. "Madara said he called me a witch."
"Now we know that is not right," Saori replied, biting back laughter. "I doubt he will ever forgive himself for even breathing the word. He loves you." There was something about putting that in words that made Saori's laughter subside and a small smile to take its place. "Izuna spoke to me about you. Often. As often as he was able. He liked talking about you."
"I know." Mio bit her lip because it hurt her to be reminded of how she hurt him.
"Izuna understands, though, about you and Madara."
"I don't understand it."
"He is perceptive—"
"Madara and I—I don't understand it, but I know that it's different. Izuna has every right to be angry. He has every right to call me a witch and much worse," she said strongly. She hated to speak about her and Madara, but she could not stop herself from spilling it all for Saori. "I had no right in hurting him. I didn't, but with him…with Madara, I have no choice. It is him or it is nothing and I could not be satisfied with nothing so I had to have him."
Saori put her hand atop Mio's. "Izuna is furious because he loves you, but he is not going to hate you for the choice you made. Not you or his brother. There are things that cannot be stopped and you two were one of them. Not anyone can deny it." She smiled in an infectious way, though all Mio wanted to do was sink into the ground, buried in her guilt because she felt it would never leave her. "I believe he loves you enough to see you happy and his brother makes you happy. And he loves his brother enough to see that he does not make a mess of what you created together."
Mio laughed because she could see that happen and it only worsened her guilt. Izuna was good. Too good. Even if it had been him that she loved, she did not feel she deserved him.
She found herself needing to change the subject when Saori surprised her by doing it herself as she let go of her hand.
"Mio, can I ask you a question?"
Mio nodded. "Yes, go ahead."
"There is something that has been bothering me," Saori began, sounding so distant and hesitant. "You see, when I woke up—rather, when I came to my senses in this world, I was in the middle of a war council. Takuei was speaking about one of the hunter clans. Apparently, we had been long at war with them and everyone was planning their next course of action. I was certain it must have been a dream because the last I recall was being buried under the rubble of the tower. I considered for a minute that I might have died, but figured death would not be so cruel as to stick me in the middle of a war council, so I was convinced it was a dream. A terribly boring one."
She paused, swallowing thickly. There was something about her rigidness that made Mio tense under the feel of a strange emotion crawling under her skin. There was a certain joy in the way Saori spoke that it was easy for anyone to overlook the ache lingering beneath all its layers of mirth.
"Still, I interjected. Hibari. I wanted to know where Hibari was," Saori continued. "She should have been at the meeting too. Takuei would never hold a war council without us. And so, I asked. If there was a reason for her absence, I needed to hear it because I did not understand it. The entire room fell silent. And they all looked at me as if I had asked something strange, but nobody spoke a word to me about my sister. I asked a second time, a third, and their faces did not change until one man took pity on me and told me that she was…" There was a sob clawing its way from her throat and Mio did not need her to say it to understand what she meant to ask. "You see, the news of your grandfather and of your husband having died reached our end and I wanted to know. If they died then and were dead now, if perhaps that meant she—" It squeezed out of her, a rough sound filled with sorrow. "It was excruciating—the pain—when he said Hibari was gone. I knew it could not be a dream. This world had to be real because I never felt this ache in me in dreams. And I—"
She stopped speaking abruptly and stared at Mio with her large shining eyes, expectant. She looked to her for even a smidgen of hope.
Mio did not like being the one to say such things, but she would not give her hope where there was none. "Anyone dead in our world is dead here," she whispered, hearing the older girl let out a shaky sob. "I'm so sorry, Saori."
Saori accepted the apology and stood suddenly, biting back tears. "She was all I had left," she sobbed, holding a hand to her mouth. "I couldn't even keep her alive." Mio made a move to stand and offer comfort, but Saori extended a hand to stop her. "Excuse me, I need to be alone."
She exited the room, sidling past Taiga, who looked to have been about to knock. He stared after Saori until she disappeared down the stairs and invited himself in.
Mio was aware Hibari had been fighting alongside Taiga against Ayuka. "What happened to Hibari?"
"Oh." Recognition filled his features, his eyebrows drawn. "Did you just—?" She nodded and he retracted his steps. "I should talk to her."
"Taiga," she called after him.
Taiga halted. "What?"
She shook her head. She decided not to ask about Hibari's death. She never had the opportunity to know the girl except for a few short conversations. It was not her place. "Forget it."
He left her.
Feeling overwhelmed, Mio found herself unable to sit still. She thought too keenly of the pain-stricken face Saori had made when she told her the truth and of the honest talk she had with Taiga days ago because it was eye opening. Takuto, Yayoi, and Tobirama came to mind. The Uzumaki she was never formally acquainted with and Hashirama as well. Somehow, in this world and outside it, because of her, they were suffering.
How many people did they lose? How many loved ones? How many of them were alone now because of this Artifact War, because of this mess Ayuka started? How many more would die for this cause? She did not want any of her guardians to experience such things.
Mio stepped out of her room and walked down the stairs. She paused on the final step, eyes on the inn's other guests as they wandered about alone and in pairs, chattering or in silence. She walked towards the hallway across the staircase and entered Madara's room without knocking, catching him as he was tying a sash around his waist.
He stilled, conscious of her presence, and looked over his shoulder to make sure it was her before continuing with what he was doing.
She slid the door shut behind her and advanced towards him, resting her forehead on his back.
"Did something happen?" he asked. "Are you feeling sick again?"
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around him.
"No?" He took her hands. "Have you eaten?"
She nodded.
"That isn't it either," he said with a frown. "Will you sit with me?"
Mio sat beside him as he ate and remained in his room even after he finished. She did not speak throughout his meal, only stared at the table's wooden surface thinking about everyone that had died and dread those that might.
The two were leaning against the wall with her head resting on his shoulder and she drew lines over his forearm with her index finger. She liked feeling at ease with him because somehow he understood that he should not ask any further questions concerning her silence. She did not know what to say because there wasn't anything to say.
It wasn't like she could decide to stop the war against Ayuka because she was tired of seeing her guardians suffering alongside her. Nothing could be done. Only finish quickly. She could not stand it. She didn't want to be here anymore, she didn't want to fight. She wanted to go home, though the thought made her wonder if there was a home waiting for her and if there was, she wondered where was it. The cottage where she grew up? The Iron Country? Kurata? Mt. Hyōga? Everywhere she had found her place had been destroyed. There were places she could no longer call her own because she never felt like she belonged. She wanted to go home. Wherever that place was. Wherever it was Madara had promised long ago. She needed to be there where her mind was not in chaos.
But she wanted to go now because her chest was tight and aching. And this world was stifling. She could have been in the center of it all and still feel insignificant. She did not want to feel like she needed to try to be either or.
Her eyes watered against her will, blurring her vision. She imagined Saori standing somewhere alone outside crying for her dead sister. Takuto, Yayoi, and Tobirama in a dark prison somewhere. Her grandfather dying in her arms, telling her that he should have treated her better.
"I don't want to fight anymore," she admitted, though it made her angry to do so, and as if in reflex, Madara covered her eyes with his hand and drew her close. She clenched her jaw because her lips were trembling, but felt the action guide the tears from her eyes down her face. "I want this to stop."
"I will fight in your place," he told her, his mouth pressed to the top of her head. He lowered his voice further, but it remained firm. "I will make them suffer as they have done to you. It won't be long now, Mio. There are only two more guardians to gather before we challenge Nishiki and Ayuka." He tightened his hold around her. "You can be strong until then."
She nodded because it was her only choice, but her crying did not stop. Everything was so close and yet she wanted to give in again. She couldn't, but she felt too much pain. She bottled her own even though all she wanted to do was give into the sadness, be awash by the emotion—overcome—but she did not want to let that happen. She believed she could hold it all in until everything was over, that she could put up a strong front, but she was not that strong. Not after all the times she had been beaten down. Everything was latching onto her now and weighing her to the ground.
However, because of all those things, she could not give up. She did not have the luxury of saying she did not want to fight anymore because she would. She would fight until she couldn't because everything was riding on them, her and her guardians. Acknowledging this only made her cry harder, inconsolably.
Mio stayed with him until her tears ran dry, though she felt too tired to go after growing comfortable resting her head on Madara's lap, feeling his hand on her arm, the heat of it leaving an imprint on her skin through the thin fabric. He had spent the time reading reports and information Taiga had gathered, speaking to her about them during intervals. But they had remained in silence mostly, a soothing quiet where only the sounds about them could be heard and admired.
Eventually, she felt she had remained too long and returned to her room, surprised to see Saori sitting at the table reading a newspaper. The older girl's eyes were a little red, but not as puffy as hers, and when their eyes met, the two smiled at one another. Saori patted the cushion beside her and Mio walked towards it to join her.
She would set aside her weakness to overcome it and see an end to Nishiki and Ayuka's plans.
Rumor of a storm preventing ships from crossing from any country to the Whirlpool Country emerged whenever they attempted to collect information that might help them reach the Uzumaki clan. This and evidence that the Senju clan, led by Hashirama, had gone to launch another attack against them had been common knowledge.
"I can do it," Saori said, undeterred by the demands being asked.
They stood in a circle whispering in the middle of a town by the docks surrounded by travelers alike discussing a matter pertaining to acquiring useful information.
There was a fisherman, one claiming to have come face to face with the rumored storm enough to describe it detail for detail. However, he was a drunk and a pervert and he would prove difficult to sway into conversation, which brought feminine wiles into discussion.
And everyone agreed to sacrifice Mio, except Saori.
"I can make him talk," Mio said in response. "It is not something I am against doing."
"It is her previous profession," Madara said. "And she is good at it."
"Old men have a proclivity for Mio," added Taiga, earning a glower. "This is her forte. That man is easy prey for her."
Mio sucked in a breath, annoyed. "Don't say it as if I am doing this on purpose."
"You might as well be. Look, that guy has not taken his eyes off you," Taiga pointed out, and when she glimpsed a middle-aged man shot her a grin. "See?"
"That proves nothing," Mio responded, glaring at him.
"Mio has that charm, Saori," Taiga continued, then looked Saori from head to toe. "Men look at you and they see their daughter. Nobody wants their daughter making advances at them."
"And what do they see looking at Mio?" Madara asked, jaw clenched. And in that inquiry, Taiga found victory.
"What do you see?" the older shinobi asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"We best figure this out, I can see him walking down the street," Mio pointed out.
They dissolved into rushed whispers. Saori persisted in taking Mio's place, but she was denied. Mio handed two bags to Madara before leaving to engage the walking man.
Mio went straight for him until she bumped into him hard enough to draw his attention. She fell on her backside as he turned with an irritated air, prepared to snap at whoever collided with him. She counted herself lucky when the ire vanished from his expression and he offered his hand to her instead.
"Didn't see you there," he said, helping her onto her feet.
She bowed her head apologetically. "Forgive me, I was not looking," she said, shyly raising her eyes to meet his face before dropping them to the floor.
That simple gesture alone was enough for the man to ask her to accompany him for a drink.
She stared up at him as frightfully innocent as she could muster, holding her hands clutched to her chest as if to calm a rampant beating in her chest.
"I shouldn't," she said, "I promised my mother—"
"It is only one drink," he told her, and his face was close enough to smell the alcohol in his breath. "I'm sure your mother would not mind. Besides, it's what a gentleman does when he bumps into a lady."
"I-I—" She hesitated.
"One drink," he persisted, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, turning her in the direction of a tavern. "In there. One drink and you can go finish your errands."
From her periphery she saw the others walk past her melting into a crowd of strangers and leaving her all the room she needed to see this through to the end.
With a bite of her lower lip, she inclined her head, allowing him to guide her inside the establishment. She was invited to sit to his right and given her first taste of strong alcohol.
She drank with him, allowing him—as one drink turned to five to six to seven—to place a hand on her thigh. She bore with it because once the alcohol started to take effect on the man, she was sure his tongue would loosen.
That did not happen.
"Have you heard about the storm?" she asked, forcing his hand to her knee to keep it from slithering further, but worried when his arm wrapped around her waist. He entertained himself with the curved where her waist connected to her hip. Her entire body was burning and she did not think she could sit still any longer. She needed to move around, run a few dozen miles before the feeling subsided.
"You want to hear about the storm?" he questioned, slurring. "Is that all you want to know about? Aren't there other more interesting things you want to learn about?" And he inched closer to her ear, whispering to her of his desire to show her what he kept hidden in his pants before his tongue darted out and touched her ear.
Mio slammed his face into the table to the immediate, stunned silence of establishment's many patrons. She then proceeded to drag him from his seat to the door, all eyes following her in astonishment.
She took him into the depths of the surrounding forest and threw him against a tree. By then the others found their way to join her.
"Did you forget your training?" Taiga berated. "You ease the information out of them."
"He was insufferable," she said huffily. She felt strange in a light, dizzying way that made her feel interesting. The man crossed a line back in the tavern and she acted on reflex when she grabbed him by the back of the head and forced it into the table. She admitted to herself that Taiga had made a good point. She did forget her training; rather, she purposely disregarded it. It had not been the first or the last time a man was trying to trail a hand up her thigh.
She could separate work from personal experience before. It bothered her to see herself as unprofessional, but she felt her desires translate into actions.
Mio caught Madara staring at her a bit too intently. "What?"
And he looked to be taken aback by her tone.
Taiga snorted, earning quizzical glances all around. "She's drunk."
"I am not drunk," she denied. She did not get drunk.
Drunk? The word made her scoff. None of them were in this feeling with her. Except the fisherman. He lived in the feeling.
"Isn't that bad for her condition?" Saori gasped. "No! What are we going to do?"
Everything was hazy, particularly the edges of her vision.
"I have never seen her like this before," Taiga responded. "I wonder what kind of drunk she is. Watch yourself Madara. She might be coming after you tonight."
Madara rightfully ignored him. "We need to do something about the fisherman."
Mio appreciated the suggestion and went into her pack in search of her water jug, which she emptied over his face. The splash of cold woke the fisherman with a start and then his meaty hands covered his face, a pained groan escaping him. His eyes lifted.
"What did you do to me, you bitch?" he grated, bloody spittle coming from his mouth.
She reached and grabbed him by the collar. "Tell me about the storm surrounding the Whirlpool Country or I will slam your head into this tree," she threatened, and a part of her was thrilled by his reaction.
"It's a storm!" he spat, his bloodied saliva splattering across her face.
Mio stared at him in quiet rage and the man felt it as his jaw clenched and the rest of his body tensed along with it. She let him go slowly, reaching to wipe her face clean of his spittle, as she mentally decided which of his ugly faces she was going to punch first.
Taiga had to pull her away to stop her from making true to her threat.
"I know it's a storm, you drunken imbecile!" she snapped, and in her first attempt to fight against Taiga's hold set herself free and sent him to the ground. She grabbed hold of the fisherman again, seizing him by the collar and forcing him to eyelevel. "Now, describe it. Bit by bit. Detail for detail. Everything."
"Mio!"
Everyone's voices overlapped in calling out to her, but she heard none of them.
The drunken angler stared up at her wide-eyed and with a stutter, he said, "E-everything?"
"Everything."
And the man spilled because his other option was becoming a part of the tree trunk at his back.
"It is monstrous," he started, stammering as he went, "like a hurricane, spinning around the entire country. Believe me, I took my ship out close and went all around. All the same. It was like a wall of water and thunder and wind—"
She held her hand up, silencing him, and turned to the others.
"What do you think?" asked Madara. "Is this the Climate Sphere's doing?"
She faced the fisherman. "How long ago did you see this?"
"I just came back from that trip," he blurted.
Mio made a gesture with her hand. "You can go."
And the fisherman stared up at her in disbelief, like if he went, she would drag him back and hit him. She'd feel inclined, but there was no time for that.
"Now," she said forcefully, sending the fool scrambling onto his feet and running as fast as they would carry him.
"Mio?" Taiga called.
Mio looked at him. "It's the Climate Sphere," she told them. "And it works in a similar form to the Universe Sphere in which it only needs to be activated once for its effects to remain. Similarly, activating it again would stop it."
"Except we can't activate it because you shut the Time Sphere off," said Taiga. "What do you suppose we'll do when we get there?"
"I doubt the Uzumaki knows she is responsible for activating the sphere in the first place," Mio answered. "I can remove the block from the Time Sphere temporarily and see to it that she dispels the storm."
"You expect Nako to make the storm she most likely conjured up by accident go away?" asked Taiga skeptically.
"I'll dispel the storm," Mio decided, judging by his tone that leaving such a large responsibility for the Uzumaki was ludicrous.
She walked away from them. She needed to sit before she started seeing doubles, but that was when she felt it…like a punch to the gut that knocked the wind out of her. She keeled over, holding an arm wrapped around her stomach, and as her knees met the ground, she heard the sound of Saori gasp and a pair of pained grunts from Madara and Taiga ring simultaneously.
It affected her the most. While they recovered, thoroughly confusion, she remained on the ground temporarily paralyzed by little pulses of pain running through her body.
"What was that?" Saori asked, tremulous.
Taiga cursed as he straightened, running a hand down his stomach.
Madara gripped his side, his face drawn in pain.
"I think…" She trailed off, feeling it again. She withheld a cry. "Something is wrong."
"Wrong with what?" Madara demanded.
"Nishiki," she croaked. It was like her insides were being crushed and her chakra festering in their channels. She knew exactly what was happening the second her body jerked as if upon impact. "He is trying to overpower me."
"You?"
"Nishiki is Musashi's true successor," she started, struggling with each word. "I did not think it possible, but he is fighting me for right to the Time Sphere like he is battling for right to the Universe Sphere."
"You, but why are we all feeling like he is draining our chakra, too?" Taiga asked, every word a struggle.
"Because he is exerting his right over all the spheres," she answered, expelling a breath. She took another gulp of air, but her chest ached as if the ribs were being forced open before the pain subsided.
Madara helped her stand. She thanked him quietly and turned to the others, the light dizziness that made her feel like a floating cloud had gone away, leaving only a dull pounding in her head and a body racked with little pains. Softly, questioning herself she said, "How is this possible?"
Nishiki broke no laws when the sphere was passed over him to the whirl of Musashi's other candidates. He did not exist when her grandfather had killed him, but he had been alive and how he was capable of hiding himself from the power of the artifacts was no doubt a forbidden act.
Oh. It hit her suddenly. The ceremony she suffered through in the Sun Country came to mind and the purpose for it had been made clear to her by Nishiki in his castle that her blood was being used to create a black water spring to help him regenerate his strength. Perhaps, her very blood infused with her chakra was helping him make a stronger claim.
In this world, he had his strength. All of it. And that meant many things. He would be difficult to defeat, more so than in their own world, and taking the Time Sphere from Madara would be easy for him. If they lost their claim on the spheres, there would be no stopping him.
This was a game to him and he was showing her. She tried to gain the upper hand by stopping the flow of chakra that powered the other artifacts and he responded in turn, assuring her he could steal all her artifacts if he wanted. She felt that.
He was toying with them.
"What is it?" Saori asked.
She faced her with fear in her heart spreading like a slow disease. "We should hurry and gather Hashirama and the Uzumaki."
"We'll need a ship," Taiga said. "That'll be hard to do when nobody sane wants to travel to the Whirlpool Country."
Mio glanced in the direction the fisherman had gone and faced the others. "I can get a ship."
"I don't think we should ask that man to do us any favors," Saori said.
"I never planned on asking," Mio admitted, walking away.
"I'll go with you," Madara said, walking after her.
"We're going Saori," Taiga called. "We need to restock."
As soon as the pervert spotted her, he tried to make a beeline across a crowded street to the docks. She caught him before he had his chance, grabbing him by the back of the shirt and dragging him to her side.
"You are taking me to the Whirlpool Country," she told him.
"You let me go!" he complained, but one glare from Madara assured him he would not be getting out of this one. They came to a reluctant agreement. "But my ship and I stay intact!"
"I'll consider it," Mio said, letting him go with a shove. "Take us to your ship."
"Stop with the shoving!"
She kicked him in the back of the knee and he smashed face first into the dirt ground.
Madara looked at her and grinned. "You should stay away from alcohol."
Mio flushed, indignant. "I am not drunk!"
The following morning, Mio caught the perverted fisherman, introduced as Shuuichi, sneaking glances at her since she woke that morning with a pulsing headache and to the realization that she was on a wooden boat surrounded by salt water. She stared back at him with a deepening frown as the boat rocked against the waves of the sea that carried it to its destination, the slightest movement making her stomach twist into tighter knots. She did nothing on the ship other than sit close enough to the ledge to vomit when the need came and next to someone she could hold onto as it was not big enough to have a cabin where she could hide with a bucket. The man brought back fish for a living. He did not do it often and he did not do it to excess, he had no need for a giant ship with a cabin, only a large net to cast into the water and room to carry a large haul.
"You are certainly quiet," Shuuichi observed, standing leisurely with his hand on his waist and his eyebrows raised.
She offered no response, only stared back at him. She felt partly ashamed of her actions yesterday, but did not feel he needed an apology. He certainly deserved having his face slammed into a table, perhaps not as hard as she had seen to it, but he had it coming at the rate his hand was wiggling up her thigh, not to mention he put his tongue on her ear. She admitted her more brusque actions were the result of her alcohol intake in her quest to wring information from him. The hard liquor was something she did not want to try again if the first shot made her feel like a cloud. However, it was the second and third had been the problem.
It was embarrassing.
"She is usually that quiet," Taiga answered, walking into view. He shot her an amused look. "Yesterday was…well, it was a good day for her. Wasn't it, princess?"
Beside her, Saori told her to ignore him and continued to twine fresh string over her wrists. Mio had focused on Saori's actions, observing the way she carefully wound the near-invisible cord around each protected wrist with a gloved hand. It took her mind off the fact she was out at sea with her insides rocking like the modest vessel. But when she took a moment to notice her surroundings—the spray of water and the smell of salt—her mind automatically went back to the feeling of being weighed down by water and the rush of it burning past her esophagus, reaching her lungs before the blackout.
She had clutched the wooden bench underneath her until her grip left long jagged lines along its surface with a rooted fear the anguish in her that would not subside. Yet it had. Always.
The sky thundered and the sudden change in the weather compelled Mio to rise from her seat beside Saori. She lifted her eyes as a curtain of rain fell from a spiral of gray clouds. Lightning streaked across and the flash lit the area for a second only to follow with a booming sound.
Mio turned, the rocking underneath them increasing in force, and found Saori rising to her feet and Madara advancing towards her side from the far end of the ship. She stared beyond the ship and saw clear, sunny skies and tame waters beyond the horizon that was steadily disappearing as a new wind started carrying the ship forward at a faster speed. They entered the Climate Sphere's radius of dominion.
"What is happening?" Shuuichi cried.
She jerked around at the sound of his voice, but not without first seeing the looks of astonishment on Saori and Madara's faces. She followed their eyes and her heart skipped a beat.
A towering wave was rising higher and higher, lifting the ship up the slope of its growing waters. She listened to her own heart beating, her breaths growing shorter. She could not swim. She would drown.
Her pulse accelerated further and her body reacted to her mounting fear by becoming paralyzed, though she heard the sound of her name being called from somewhere far, ringing like an echo. A hand wrapped around her wrist and its owner jerked her back, but she saw it—a glimpse of it. Water spinning wildly like a hurricane surrounding the Waterfall Country protectively with jagged strands a lightning zigzagging across it's pale surface like giant snakes swimming in the sea.
The giant wave finally swallowed them whole.
The dungeons rang with pained moans or pleas, but never hummed with silence. The burning walls and bars were specially reinforced with black water to prevent escape, though certain prisoners required special means to remain imprisoned. Those cells were special.
Torture for them was entertainment for others. Senju Tobirama witness many die upon the bloody sand, some by his hand and others through public executions on ground level surrounded by screaming spectators, but there was a war brewing within the dungeons between those that wanted to survive, those that desired freedom, and those that were guardians—the thieves…them. He, in the cell located in a dead end within the labyrinth that was this dungeon, Yayoi, the weeping one in the prison to his right, and Takuto, in the cell beside Yayoi's who had seen the most torture of them all. They were targets of a different kind, reserved for the public stage but no less forced into the prison games that had left them in tatters.
Though there was no connection left for him to fight for, Tobirama was long aware that he lost the right to the Universe Sphere from the instant he woke from the darkness to a stagnant world without light that carried the scent of death and blood like a perfume.
Tobirama stood before the black bars, so close he felt the heat radiating from them, waiting for the sound of footsteps to turn into their path. There was a system, an order in which prisoners were elected for execution, marked red by their jailor—the redheaded priestess who appeared in all her luxury to taunt them, though had only recently become aware that had they retained their memories by some fluke. Only one cell was marked red at once. As soon as that occurred, the prisoner was left to dread their final week among the living, and he knew it would be their time, sooner than later. Neither one of them controlled their spheres. They were turned into pawns to push the Artifact War into its climax and to be sacrificed.
Nishiki and Ayuka expected them to relinquish their lives so they could seize full control of Mio. The loss of a few guardians would no doubt be enough to drive her into submission, into losing her will to fight back. And it would work. Tobirama knew it would. She had a weak heart, a fragile one, and though she tried to overcome her weakness, it shone through. The deaths of three guardians she swore to protect would be too much for her.
She should be stronger, he thought as he waited, she should remember what it means to be a shinobi.
Ayuka came into view, though she did so alone when she normally came with an assistant or two, holding the brush in her hands, leaving splatters of red ink on the floor as she walked. She paused in the center where she could easily pivot and have a look into each of their cells as a smile curved her lips.
She had done this before, stood and stared at them with the brush in her hand as if wondering which of the three would be the first to be killed, but she had gone a few cells away and marked the prison of a small old woman Yayoi recognized from her country. "She collected herbs and made teas with them," Yayoi had said after the cannon had signaled her death not too long ago. And she had said it regrettably. "I had seen her in the Earth Country during the fighting. She was hiding with some of the servants. She pointed us in the right direction. She told us she had been taking care of Mio in secret and—"
Yayoi had not finished because she had dissolved into tears. Takuto had to reach for her hand from his cell. If they sat against the wall, they could touch, those two, and they often sought the warmth of one another, though the flesh on Takuto's hand had been burned off and the bandages he had tied around his hand had stuck to the exposed muscle, becoming infected. Brilliant medical specialist as he was, it had become a custom to drain him of blood to keep his strength at a manageable level, so he could not even heal himself, and Yayoi had been brutalized, her hands broken only to be healed to be broken again, so she could not help him either.
Takuto rarely spoke. Tobirama often wondered if he was alive in his cell, and if he would survive any longer.
Ayuka did not walk away that time. She stepped forward and drew a long line in dripping red ink across one of the cells. She smiled, crouching down to level with the wide-eyed priestess who had received her death sentence.
"Do not be afraid, Yayoi," she cooed. "I will ask for it to be done swiftly. For all the love I once held you, I wish there to be no pain when death comes for you." She scrapped one long nail down the length of a burning bar. "Not after you have learned your lesson."
The redhead stood and started to leave.
"You won't win, Ayuka!" Yayoi shouted, reaching out to grab hold of the burning bars that hissed when they came in contact with her flesh. She winced, but bit back the scream aching to tear its way from her throat. "I have seen your death!"
Ayuka stopped abruptly, turning slowly. Her lips were smiling, but her eyes were not. "And I have seen yours." She looked to all of them, advancing towards Takuto's cell where he drew a line across it and then Tobirama watched her reach his, her eyes boring into his. "All of yours. Pray to your gods, children, for you have rejected my mercy and must pay the consequences."
She marked the black bars in one swift stroke, the red ink splattering across his face. He did not wince.
xl: Part 2 will be posted later today. I'm still editing it...and there are rewrites! D:
I am seriously starting to feel this story is about how I'm going to torture a group of ten people. Like, how far can I go? I've already shipwrecked Mio, Madara, Taiga, and Saori. Yayoi, Takuto, and Tobirama have their death sentence and have been enduring ungodly torture while imprisoned. You'll see what Hashirama and Nako have been dealing with in the next part. So? How have I been doing in the torture department? I'm starting to feel like GRRM. Like, did things really just get worse? Worser than worse?
I'm sorry I didn't have Hashirama make an appearance in this part. I was going to cut off part one much earlier on, but decided to set up for part two. Splitting this chapter in two was a last minute decision I made after I realized how long it was turning out to be. I mean this part alone is 8k (and normally I let it slide, but I couldn't this time...creative decision, haha).
Thank you: Loteva, HushedFable, Guest1 (Thank you for reading and reviewing, hope you enjoyed this chapter.), Guest2 (I'm happy you found my story worthy of reviewing, thank you so much for reading it and I hope you continue to enjoy it!), Kettobase, LittleMissSugarLess, and Scarlette Winter for reviewing. You have all been wonderful support. Thank you to everyone that has added this story or myself (because of this story) to your favorites or alert list.
I am seriously at the point where I am starting to feel very emotional with every new chapter that I post because I am seriously going "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" the entire time! I am going to continue being an emotional mess as I finish rewrites for part 2 and prepare it for posting.
By the way, I posted a preview to that chapter on my livejournal. It's in Madara's POV, but I'm probably not going to keep things rolling as Mio's POV (that Tobirama POV was necessary because he be the only POV character in that dungeon)...so savor the scene...'cause it'll probably end up in Jigsaw or worded differently through Mio's POV.
Thank you for reading!
